


Two Lanterns in a Bar

by BookofOdym



Category: DCU, DCU (Comics), Green Lantern (Comics), Green Lantern - All Media Types
Genre: Alcohol, M/M, Mentions of Parallax, Protective Guy Gardner, mentions of Spectre
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-17
Updated: 2020-07-17
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:07:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25034440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BookofOdym/pseuds/BookofOdym
Summary: Hal decides Guy's bar is the best place to drink away his sorrows, Guy isn't gonna allow that without an explanation.
Relationships: Guy Gardner/Hal Jordan
Comments: 3
Kudos: 38
Collections: Little Black Dress Exchange 2020





	Two Lanterns in a Bar

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kameiko](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kameiko/gifts).



> I spent a long time thinking about who to pair Hal with, because so many deserve more love: Ray, Carter, Alan, Clark, Ollie... but Guy deserves a lot.

Guy watched Hal over the bar as the other Lantern poured back another rum and coke, he had had entirely too many that night, Guy had been counting. It was after hours, and Guy had locked the door about an hour previously, hoping at finding out what was eating at the pilot. Not that Jordan was talking, the guy never talked about anything, kept things bottled up until they bubbled over. Of course, that didn’t mean Guy wasn’t capable of just shutting down his supply and forcing him to talk. 

It was easy to worry about Jordan, for one thing, the man had absolutely no sense of self preservation, he was absolutely the kind of person who would get drunk and try to have sex with Atrocitus, and then come to Guy crying about how _all_ of the alien's bodily fluids had been changed into plasma. For another, Guy was starting to recognize just how concerned Hal had always been about him during his period suffering from severe brain damage, even though at the time Guy would have thought him to death if he'd had even an inkling about that. Apparently, Jordan had even had a talk with Beetle about how everyone always misunderstood the redhead. Not that the current version of Guy could exactly blame Kord for his distrust, he wasn't proud of attacking the man from behind during a fair fight, or of kicking him while he was down.

But, sometimes you never got the opportunity to apologize to the people you hurt. Kord had been murdered, by someone they had both trusted, before Guy could even have one conversation with him as a new man, and Guy knew that Hal would never know just how many Lanterns were in the vacuum of space when Parallax led him to the central power battery.

Their life paths were similar, and sometimes Guy thought that he and Hal were the only people who would ever truly understand each other. Maybe Johnny with his Xanshi thing, as well.

“How about another?” Hal asked, and Guy could hear the slurring in his voice, Guy didn’t think that Jordan would be able to take another drink without falling down, which, amusing as it would be, wasn’t exactly something he wanted to happen in his own bar, where he would have to clear it up. 

“What are you? Trying to drink me out of house and home?” Guy asked, not reaching across to the bottle, he narrowed his eyes at the other man when he saw him eying the bottle, daring him to try and take it himself. “Did Al chew you out earlier?” 

Alan Scott could be kind of a hardass, any mistake could land you in a lecture, but he did care about all of the Earth Lanterns. Except, in a lot of situations, for Guy, who just seemed to annoy him. 

The brunet shook his head. “Alan said that it was stupid to let my ring run out of charge, but since I helped out the JSA even without it, he was proud.” He remained silent for a long while afterward, so long that Guy began to think that he really wasn’t going to tell him what happened. But after a moment, Hal spoke again. “It’s been years, but Bruce still throws Parallax in my face every time we fight.” 

Immediately, Guy went very still. It was nothing new, defending Jordan from people who still blamed him for the things he’d done as Parallax, even though he had been possessed at the time, had been possessed for several months after the fact. The entire reason that the man had become the Spectre in the first place was that it was the only way to burn Parallax out of him after it had fused with his soul. Guy had forgiven him immediately, would probably have forgiven him even if it turned out that he hadn’t been possessed, Guy had had his own struggles with mental illness, and Hal had done so much in the name of redemption. 

Bruce Wayne was the opposite. He had never even been willing to give Hal a second chance. A few years ago, when Hal had still been dead, Alan had shown up in Guy’s bar in a fit of rage, it turned out that Hal had sacrificed his chance at redemption in order to save Alan and the JSA, taking his original role as the Spectre back up to protect them. Alan and Jay had petitioned Bruce that he should be allowed a second chance, and Bruce had been a dick about it. 

There had also been the time, that he’d heard about from Kyle, and later from Arthur, about the time Hal had sacrificed his life (no, his very existence) to save the JLA, and while the others had been laboring to save him in turn, Bruce had actively been hindering their efforts, because “Hal didn’t deserve redemption." Bats did it with everyone, refused to acknowledge when other people had changed, or that they might really be just as skilled as him, it was why Ted Kord had died alone, with no back up or any hope of help, but it was extra bad with Hal. People who Batman cared about could have all the second chances they needed, people like Guy or Hal? They barely got a quarter of a chance.

The point was Guy had hated him for years, ever since the bastard had first punched him out, but he made it incredibly easier to hate him even more.

“I’m going to kill him,” the redhead said with a growl, already standing up. Except, while he had been lost in his own rage, Hal had reached over to grab the rum bottle, and had poured himself a drink. Now the other Lantern was slumped forward on the bar, and he looked as if he was dozing. “Jesus, Jordan,” he sighed. Looked like starting a fight was going to have to wait. 

He placed a hand on the man’s left shoulder, shaking him lightly. Hal blinked awake with a snort. “Jus’ give me a little longer, Guy.” He said, sleepily, and slurring his words even worse than before. 

“No,” Guy sighed, taking the time to wrap a shoulder around Hal, bodily lifting him up, “Can’t leave you alone for a second, can I, Jordan? Now I gotta take care of you before I can do anything else.” 

Luckily Guy’s apartment was fairly close to his bar, so while it wasn’t exactly easy to bodily carry the brunet across the street, dodging cars all the while, or to drag him up the stairs, it was a hell of a lot easier than it would have been if he lived halfway across the city. 

Jordan had probably been knocked hard enough to wake up with a few bruises on the way up there, but Guy lowered him down onto the bed as gently as he possibly could, pressing a soft kiss up against his hairline. It wasn’t like Jordan was ever going to know, after all. 

Pulling away though, intent as he was to go and fight Bruce Wayne, Guy found that he wasn’t able to stand up all the way. He was, in fact, being dragged back down onto the bed. Hal had wrapped his arms around Guy’s neck and was pulling him down into a cuddle. 

“Hey,” the drunk man said, clearly not fully aware of the meaning behind his actions. “Don’t leave me alone.” 

Guy gritted his teeth, making to pull away again, he was too manly for cuddles, and he needed to kick Batman's ass into the sun. But Hal wouldn't let go, and eventually, he allowed himself to relax into the embrace.

* * *

The next night, Batman crouched on a rooftop, watching a group of thugs carrying out an arms deal below. He weighed up his options, he could jump down now, taking all ten of them out with just one short fight, but he would lose the opportunity to find out any intel about the person or persons who was running the operation. 

Neither option happened, because a human-shaped green glow descended behind him, causing the men on the street below to look up and see him, loud Russian shouts filled the streets, and both groups piled into two cars, tearing off into the night. Guy Gardner’s fist slammed into his jaw, sending him sprawling down onto the rooftop. 


End file.
